


More trouble than he's worth

by Brynnen, TwaCorbies (Brynnen)



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BAMF Kraglin, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Peter, Kraglin is scary, Rescue, Swearing, Violence, Yondu hates slavery, Yondu is ruthless, peter is scared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 13:22:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13101051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brynnen/pseuds/Brynnen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brynnen/pseuds/TwaCorbies
Summary: Kid!Peter is kidnapped. Fortunately Yondu and Kraglin are on hand to wreck some shit and steal back their emergency meat supply.Yeah, that's why they're taking on several dozen baddies, everyone know you don't steal from Ravagers after all.





	1. Yondu

Yondu frowned at the trembling crewmember before him, gave a sharp whistle and headed into the control room to find his First Mate. Kraglin was a lanky, usually slow to talk, loyal guy who also happened to turn into one of the scariest motherfuckers Yondu had ever had the pleasure of being crewed by. Sure the more usual readin', pilotin' and organising shit skills were nice, but sometimes the terrifying psychopath side 'came useful too. Times like today.

'Where's li'l Quill?' Kraglin asked when Yondu came back from planetside short one pint-sized pain in the ass Terran. He yawned, there'd been too many back to back shifts lately, not that he was dumb enough to whinge about that.

'We're gonna go get 'im now.' Yondu growled, grabbing a couple more blasters and jerking his head in an order for Kraglin to follow him. 'We goin' hunting.'

Kraglin fell into step with him, behind and to the side of him, his ugly boggling eyes filling with the unholy calm that preceded him reminding the crew as to just why half of them had nightmares about him as well as Yondu. The growl that resonated from somewhere around Kraglin's boots made half the bridge crew shuffle nervously. Yondu grinned, good, he was in a bitey kinda mood.

'You makin' a hunting party boss?' Oblo asked cautiously as the pair strode past him, strides synchronised and stinking of danger. And their usual stink.

'Already full, Oblo. You'n Horuz keep th'engines running for us. Tullk, man the guns in case we come in hot.' As he strode away Yondu heard the thump of fists on chests, over hearts, spleens, swim bladders and weird organs he didn't have the words for.

As they passed Tulne, Yondu whistled his arrow back into the quiver, letting the idiotic crewman drop like so much meat.

They pushed through the mass of bodies in the marketplace that fucker Tulne had been at when the bastard had lost Quill and Yondu pushed back his leather sleeve to squint at the display showing where Quill's translator chip was. Hopefully it was still in the boy or who knew what he'd do. One thing was sure, it would get loud. The crowd parted for them, people getting the Hell out the way of the pissed off pirate.

Yondu's fingers twitched over the visible holster as the fury carried on building, his gut twisting with worry and that only made him more pissed off. No one stole from Yondu Udonta.

The lock on the gate they ended up in front of was fancy - top of the range swanky. Yondu wondered if he could steal it, then frowned as the opulence of the place made two puzzle pieces slot together in his mind. Of course it would be slavers. He cursed under his breath and circled around the exterior walls, looking for another way in.

Kraglin signalled, head cocked as he listened for more information. <Thirty-two guards patrolling the grounds.>

Only thirty-odd? These a-holes were gonna find out the hard way that it took more than that to take him down when you took his boy! <Get over the wall and let me in the front.>

Kraglin saluted and paused by the quietest stretch of wall. It was only three metres high, Yondu was almost impressed by their balls. These fuckers didn't think anyone had the balls to take 'em down. Yondu snorted and cupped his hands into a stirrup.

Kraglin rested one boot in it and placed his hands on Yondu's shoulders for balance. 'One... Two...Three!' On the whispered 'three' Yondu straightened up explosively, Kraglin vaulting over the high walls easily. There was a light sound of impact and Yondu headed back towards the front gate.

The thing about Kraglin was that when he wanted to be stealthy you'd smell him before you saw or heard him and by the time you could smell him it was too damn' late for you. Yondu strained his limited heat-sight to try and track his First Mate's progress across the compound by both heat and the soft sounds of people dyin' and he grinned as a wavering shape came to the gates, opening them.

'This ain't gonna be pretty, Krags, but you didn't join th' Ravagers fer subtle. C'mon let's remind these dicksplats what happens when you steal from Yondu Udonta.' With that Yondu strode in through the gates, lips pursed to whistle. The usual joy he felt at hearing the distant screams of scumbags who'd done him wrong having holes punched in them was absent, replaced by a worry that only made him feel angrier.

Double doors ahead of the exploded open and Kraglin was a blur as he threw himself into the fray, seding a spray of throwing knives into the bodies presented to him. The knife in his left hand carved a trail up the leading heavy's torso as Kraglin scaled him, using the bastard's knee as a springboard and then somehow using the knife now buried in the fucker's throat to pivot sideways and toss two more knives into the throats of the next two heavies.

One went down, but the other deployed their throat frill to deflect the steel and grabbed Kraglin's foot, swinging him around and hurling him at the side wall. As Kraglin hit the stonework, Yondu brought his Yakka Arrow around in a tight loop that finished off the final two wall guards.

'I believe you shitstains have something that belongs to me.'

The distraction gave Kraglin long enough to stand and he launched himself at the huge lizardy bulk of the 'shei, a discarded knife flying back into his hand as he hurled the one currently in his left at xir eyes. Yondu holstered the Yakka Arrow, the fight was too tight and fast-moving to risk running through his First Mate, so while Kraglin kept the security team busy he strolled around the melee, firing his blasters into the throng where it was possible to do so without putting any more holes in Krags.

He strained his ears, trying to pick up the distinctive sound of Peter's snivelling. A scream behind him made Yondu wince, that pitch meant Kraglin's secondary canines had deployed. Hopefully he'd bite someone with some knowledge worth acquiring. A second scream came, along with a hot gush of blood, the stink filling the air. With the blood frenzy on him Kraglin'd only be good for drawing the slavers to him and dispatching those jizz-stains on the sheets of the universe.

Yondu continued on leaving him behind. His blasters were at the ready and with his lips pursed to whistle at so much as a foot-fall, Yondu headed into the main building. It was careless of the reinforcements to have left the door open, but Yondu grinned at the sounds of carnage behind him. Kraglin was being a brilliant distraction.

The guard staffing the surveillance system was too busy retching into a waste-paper basket to hear his approach and she dropped without a sound, giving Yondu access to the full control panels. His eyes skimmed across the screens, searching for his boy and he growled in fury at the sheer number of kids these bastards were trafficking.

The press of a button unlocked all of the building's cages and Yondu strode off towards Q-block, shooting any sentient he came across that topped five feet and didn't flinch at the sound of heavy boots on plastocrete.

'Yondu! You came for me!' Even before Yondu'd fully opened the cage door Peter threw himself at Yondu, blubbering into his leathers. Ew. Who knew that Terrans were a straight up 90% mucus? He hadn't before he'd picked Peter up.

'Damn' straight I did. You think I'd let these a-holes take my emergency meat ration off me? No siree!' Yondu tightened his grasp on the shaking child gathered up in his arms and whistled the Yakka Arrow into a tight, defensive circle around them.

'W...what about the others?' Peter asked forelornly, looking at a little pink kree girl in the cage next to his. Her eyes shimmered with tears as she lookedup at him, tightly clutching some kinda soft toy. He'd never make it in the galaxy with a soft heart like that, but Yondu covered his sigh.

'All th' cages are unlocked. The rest of 'em can get out any time they want. Kraglin's still takin' care a' bidness, so I'd suggest they wait ten minutes then run like Hell.'

'Thank-you Yondu!' The grip around his neck tightened as the room filled with a chorus of gratitude.

It looked like he'd taken care of everyone inside of the building, but just to be sure he stopped by the security station and checked again. Yup, there was no-one left alive in the whole complex besides the kids, him, Kraglin and the huge guy trying to bet Kraglin to a pulp.

'Didn't I tell ya not to play with ther food, boy?' Yondu drawled loudly as he re-entered the court-yard, pulling Peter closer into his chest to shield him from the sight before them.

The last slaver standing was limping badly, the rear of its three legs had already been hamstrung, turquoise blood oozed from half a dozen wounds and on Kraglin's side of things he was coated in blood and moving oddly to protect his whole right side. It was an unusually even match for Kraglin when he was in this kinda mood.

Kraglin blinked at the yelling and Yondu sighed. 'Get on with it!'

The shout galvanised him, and dodging the five knife-wielding arms swinging at him he bounded up to the enemy in jerky zig-zags before leaping in to sink his teeth into the heavy mass of muscles at his neck, dropping his whole bodyweight to bring them both to the ground.

'I'm gonna barf.' A little voice behind him said and Yondu turned to see a sylph-like little red thing of a species he didn't recognise.

'Shoulda taken my advice and waited then.' Yondu told him without sympathy.

The kid shrugged. 'But then I wouldn't'a seen the Purifier destroy Llronig. Totally worth it.'

Purifier? It took Yondu a few minutes to process the word since his chip had translated it rather than leaving it was the weird-ass religious title is was. Hell, this wasn't the first raid he'd been on where a crew-member had been mistaken for another culture's religious figure, but Kraglin? Really?

'Whatever kid. You wanna be parta the Purifier's plan you git out there an' scream like you was on fire fer th' Nova Corps to save ya.'

'Why?' Ah spaceballs, the little bastard was at that stage?

'So ya don't see th' back of my hand, y'little varmint!' Yondu snapped, raising his hand in threat and shuffling Peter's weight easily onto his right hip to give room to swing.

'Pshaw, only fer th' Purifier. You din't make me do nuffin'!' The kid retorted, but obediently he headed out the front gate, leaving the Ravagers alone. A distant scream told them the red kid was doing as he'd been told. Good


	2. Chapter 2

Peter knew he shouldn't have gone with Tulne when the young crewman had said he was heading dirtside, but sheesh, everything there was to do on Eclector (that Yondu wouldn't punish him too bad for trying ayways) he'd done like a million times already! He was already regretting that majorly as the crowd buffetted him about the marketplace, no sign of Tulne in sight.

He'd been ditched and his translator chip was struggling to keep up with the amount of different languages being spoken around him. This wasn't fun any more! Peter pouted at how unfair it was and doggedly tried to make his way back towards the Eclector, hopefully b'fore Yondu, Kraglin or Horuz noticed he'd even left. His ear still smarted from the last time Horuz had dragged himhalfway across Knowhere...

He was so caught up that particular bad memory that he didn't see or hear them coming above the general confusion of the marketplace. Before he could even yell out, a bag was tossed over him and a powerful force clamped around his waist.

Peter tried to fight back, remembered Yondu's lesson about raking his bootheel down any sensitive bits he could get to, but pain erupted in his shoulder before he could do anything real useful and it went black.

Someone was crying, the sound creeping in through the edges of the black. He lay there dreamily wondering about that when he realised it was actually several someones in fact.

Peter struggled back awake and opened his eyes with a herculean effort. The ceiling was metal, but much closer than his bedroom ceiling. Had he fallen asleep while cleaning the vents again?

The sobbing snapped him out of that thought, dozens of threads of weeping echoing and overlapping each other in a creepy susurrus like that trid Oblo had shown him that had led to him being so scared that for a whole week after Pete had only been able to sleep when he crept in with Yondu or Kraglin. Peter swallowed, scared witless, but he crawled towards the noise and the bars of the cage he found himself in.

A pink kree girl was rocking back and forth crying like he had when his Momma had died and Pete's eyes got wet with sympathy tears.

'Hey, you okay?'

She straightened up at the sound of his voice and looked at him in shock. 'You'we not s'posed t' talk hewe.' She whispered to him, eyes wide with fear.

The big door at the end of the room slammed open and heavy footfalls echoed through the storage room. 'You know the rules, no chit-chat from the product. Being new is no excuse 24601!'

The legs stopped in front of Peter's narrow view. The bars opened up and he was dragged out by the scruff of his jacket, backhanded hard and then flung back into the cage so hard he hit the back wall with an impact that left him gasping for breath. The legs went away and Peter felt the blackness coming back. He whimpered. He was so screwed.

More footfalls woke him up, this time a familiar cadence, Yondu! He'd come for him! Peter struggled up to his knees and craned to look for that blue face. It was really him! He was crushed into soft, warm leathers and Yondu didn't even object to carrying him like he had when he'd first picked Peter up. Peter might have said something, he didn't know, mainly he was too busy trying not to cry.Yondu turned to start carrying him home, but something wasn't right with this picture.

'W...what about the others?'

The little pink girl was hugging her dolly tightly and Peter just wanted to hug her, tell her it was okay. Yondu was here, he'd fix everything. It was okay, Yondu had set everyone free already, he just wanted to let Kraglin finish kicking ass before they all ran away. Kraglin was clever and fast and Yondu was awesome. If both of them were here the bad guys didn't stand a chance! Everything was gonna be fine. Peter sighed happily and waved at the little girl over Yondu's shoulder. She crept out of the cage as they left and the last Peter saw of her as the door closed was her helping some of the others get out of their cages too.

Yondu's hand was huge, but gentle as he pushed Peter's head into the collar of his coat while saying something. Peter made out the word Kraglin, cool, that meant they'd be going home to the Eclector soon!

The gentle pressure on his head eased and Peter kept his arms looped around Yondu's neck, craning to look for Kraglin, who was collapsed on his knees, elbows resting on the dead body of the biggest person Peter had ever seen! They'd killed all of those people for hurting him?

'I hate slavers, biggest scumbuckets in th' universe!' Yondu spat on one of the bodies.

'C'mon Kraglin, let's get outta here... Obfonteri!' He barked the man's surname when Kraglin didn't move. Kraglin blinked slowly up at them, his face a mask of various bloods that kinda grossed Peter out.

'Did Kraglin do all that?'

'Uh huh, he ain't just a pretty face.' Yondu joked as he grabbed a handful of Kraglin's leathers and hauled him up to his feet. 'Which is fortunate seein' as th' bastard's ugly as sin.'

Kraglin staggered a bit, eyes glassy after all that killing and Peter grabbed the collar of his jumpsuit to help steady him. Most days Kraglin didn't seem to even like him all that much (even if he did stop a-holes like Triu from eating Peter or put dressings on his cuts when he'd gotten hurt), but there was a yard full of dead bodies and blood all 'round Kraglin's mouth because of Peter.

Peter went a bit green when he realised some of the bodies had had their throats torn out like a pack of werewolves had been through. Kraglin was scary. Peter solomnly decided that moment that he was never gonna piss off the Captain's second again. (The promise lasted for a whole two and a half weeks, a personal record for Peter.)

Kraglin staggered and reeled along beside Yondu, totally spaced out as Yondu steered them towards the docks. Eventually Yondu got fed up,  swore and treated Kraglin like just another drunk, slinging his arm about the man's shoulders and steering him manually.

Peter wriggled to be let down once the crowds started to get thicker and he recognised the landmarks near the docks. Scary day or no, he was a big boy and he didn't want any of the crew to see Yondu carrying him like a baby!

'Quit yer thrashin' boy! I ain't lettin' yer go anywhere. You've caused us enough trouble f'r one cycle!' Peter obediently froze, recognising Yondu's tone of voice - it was the one he used right before he stuffed someone in an airlock. They might be planetside, but Pete didn't want to risk it even if it hadn't been his fault those bastards had kidnapped him!

'You wanna be helpful, you gimme some'a that candy Kraglin always lets you pick from that easy thigh pocket of his. You both need'ta eat.'

'He don't let me do nothing, I'm just getting that good at picking pockets, Yondu!' Peter objected even as he rummaged in his pocket and pulled out the three candy bars he'd expertly filched using the old 'bump into and steady yourself on them while apologising' technique.

'Uh huh, tell me that when you lift something off him that he didn't buy specifically for you. Everyone knows you're the one who loves these wafer things.'

'No way, you're just jealous of how good I'm getting at picking pockets!' Peter argued back hotly, his fear and aches and pains forgotten in the heat of the argument.

Yondu didn't say anything to that, just unwrapped a candy bar and shoved it sideways into Kraglin's mouth, tilting his head away with a grimace from the sound of the man choking and spluttering around the unexpected mouthful. On this other side, Pete was surreptitiously trying to wipe the melted candy coating off his hands onto Yondu's collar. He was sure this jacket was due a go through the wash, it wasn't like that'd make it any worse...

Yondu activated the airlock and stepped onto Eclector. The warm stench of home, rust, unwashed bodies, cook's awful food, grease and fuel hit them and Peter felt himself relax, even as Kraglin stumbled again and Yondu quickly caught him with a curse.

'Dammit Obfonteri! Yer goin' straight to bed ifn' I have t' put you there y'self 'n ifn' I see you up before midshift tomorrow you'll be scrubbing every damn' surface of this ship, ya hear me!'

Peter stifled a giggle to hear that voice being used on someone over six feet tall and Kraglin blinked at them, then went to pound his fist in a salute only to fall over again. He blinked stupidly as Yondu caught him with yet another burst of invective. Peter squelched yet another round of giggles into his hand.

'Oblo, get me th' good first aid kit!' Yondu yelled as they walked past the bridge, past Peter's little room and right into Yondu's big bedroom. There was a shout of 'yessir!' behind them and the sound of a fist pounding on chest.

Yondu reached his bedroom and dropped Peter and Kraglin onto the piled furs and bedding. Peter scrambled up toward the pillows to stay out the way as Yondu moved Kraglin's arm about, then twisted and shoved it with an awful popping noise. Kraglin made a grumbly noise of protest, then went still when he realised that Yondu wasn't in a mood to put up with shit. See, Peter knew he was smart, no matter what some of the others said!

'You hurt bad, kid?' Yondu wasn't looking at him, stripping off the outer layer of Kraglin's leathers to check how bad the wounds they could see actually were. Peter watched, mesmerised by how gentle Yondu's hands were. He felt kinda weird and fuzzy.

'Peter!' Peter jumped a bit at the yell and Kraglin woke up enough to sit up, trying to work out where to aim the blaster he still had in one hand.

'Sorry sir! Uh, my head hurst plenty and they bruised me up good, but I don't think they hurt me that bad. ' Peter rubbed his shoulder surreptitiously, trying to decide whether to mention it or not.

'Cap'n, first aid kit's here!' Oblo put the large box down beside Yondu and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. 'Y'need a hand?'

'Hold 'im steady so I can check these ribs.' They moved smoothly, Yondu cutting through the remaining layers of thermals Kraglin usually wore to get to his injuries and slapped a bunch of medipads over them. Yondu made it look so easy and after the last pad was applied Kraglin started snoring loudly and managed to grab a big handful of the blankets and roll onto his belly, wrapping himself up like the larval cocoon of the Reticulated Moth of Cylin III.

'Okay we're done here. Get outta here, Oblo.'

'Y'ssir.' He was out in a flash leaving Peter and Yondu alone with Kraglin and his snore.

'C'mere boy.' Yondu's strong hands grasped him under the arms gently and pulled Peter into his lap. 'That's gonna be one Helluva shiner tomorrow, boy.' He carefully daubed a squirt of ointment around the swollen area.

'Now show me that shoulder you're favourin'.' Peter shyly bared it, feeling a bit sick at the ugly bruising and the way it was slowly seeping blood and some kinda clear icky stuff.

The sight of it made Yondu start ranting, too fast and in too many languages for Peter to really follow, but in spite of how angry he sounded his hands were soft as he cleaned and bandaged the stick-wound. He didn't even grumble when Peter leaned back into his chest, just held him for once without yelling at him to stop being a little Terran crybaby.

Calloused fingers helped him slide his shoulder back into his leathers and rubbed his back gently as Peter listened to Yondu's breathing (and the never-ending snoring). Soft and slow, cocooned in safety, Peter fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Kraglin was warm. Mmmm. Nice'n warm.

He felt weird and floaty, warm and not cold for once. He sighed happily in pleasure at the sensation, then frowned as his brain started coming back online. This wasn't right, he was never this cosy and his mouth was full of the taste of blood and language. Not his blood or Xandarian. Some other language.

Damn' he was thinkin' slow, Kraglin peeled his gummy eyes open with difficulty and frowned at the sight of his arm, clad only in a double layer of thermal combinations. Someone had taken his clothes off? Had a crew member tried it on with him again? He didn't hurt or feel grossly sticky like usual when someone got frisky at him...

He flexed experimentally and decided no, he'd have noticed that happening even if he did feel like Eclector had crash-landed right on top of him again (stop whingeing, ya big jessie, it wuz only a little section dropped on ya! Yondu's voice chimed into his thoughts.) Kraglin shook his head and went to move his other arm, but it was numb and he turned his head with a mounting sense of horror only to see that th' little shit Quill had clambered into bed with him at some point and was layin' on his arm. And they were both in Yondu's bed.

Huh.

He frowned, wracking his brain to try and work out what he'd done to deserve the warm comfy bed. He wrinkled his nose as the hairs of one of the furs tickled it and memory hit. Captain had had to go and rescue lil' Quill again after the rugrat had gotten hisself stole by slavers again.

Would those dumbasses ever learn not to do that?

Captain'd gotta show 'em why you didn't do that shit to Yondu goddam Udonta and Kraglin was First Mate, so he he had to watch Captain in case he got hisself into another stupid mess. Yeah, that made sense, there musta been a load of them if he was this tired.... He'd climbed a wall for some reason and let Captain in and then he was here, tasting language and wrecked with tiredness. Must'a gotten all het up at them asshats.

At least he'd got some new knowledge out of it, even if it once more raised the question as to what the flark kinda monsters lurked back in his family tree. Eh, so long as it came in handy he wouldn't complain.

Kraglin let his eyes fall closed again. No one was yellin' for him to do stuff and he was tired and hurting and the bed was real warm, especially with Quill acting like a (technically) sentient heat-pack. Captain'd yell for him if he needed Kraglin. He drifted back to sleep.

Yondu stomped into his cabin, grumbling about the idiots he had to put up with and ready to sic Kraglin on the head mechanic and then stopped dead. Kraglin was flat out on his back, dead to the world, Petey sprawled half across his chest, clinging on like a parasitic vine.

As he watched, Kraglin snored loudly, then startled halfway awake, apparently at the noise he'd just made. Yondu suppressed a snort at that, watched as his eyes fluttered and Kraglin slumped back into the mattress.

Eh, Brilf could wait. Yondu flopped into his chair and picked up the stores report from Rup the Quartermaster, the only sound interrupting his peace being Kraglin's stentorian snores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really liked the triptych structure for this. It's a cheap technical conceit, but the fic just didn't feel properly finished without it.
> 
> I hope you readers enjoyed the cheesy adventures of our emotionally constipated heroes!


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